Trailer: The Wound

Mamma Mia: Up close to the stageshow

Set to the songs of ABBA, the Mamma Mia musical tells the story of a bride-to-be looking for her real father.

My my, how can I resist you?, indeed.

"It really does feel like a new show for me," says O'Donnell. "It's been a beautiful full circle. Alicia Gardiner, who plays Rosie, we played best friends last time and we're back playing best friends this time and we've definitely reminisced about how much fun we had.

Natalie O'Donnell (middle) with the cast of Mamma Mia!Photo: James Morgan

"But the show itself, is entirely different. There are parts in there now that I didn't even contemplate before."

Since it premiered in London in 1999, Mamma Mia! has become a worldwide hit, propelled by its Abba soundtrack and boosted by a 2008 film adaptation starring Meryl Streep and the questionable singing talents of Pierce Brosnan.

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On paper, its story - that of a young woman looking for her real father from three possible candidates, and a mother who doesn't want to tell her the truth - doesn't sound like jaunty musical material. But O'Donnell believes it's that very human story - a child searching for their parent - that makes it so appealing.

"It's easy to pass it off as a really simple story, but what it has is themes of family, of love, loss, celebration and friendship and how your actions in the past affect your future," she says.

"It's incredibly relatable, it's a very human story. And I think that's the strength of it. And in some ways it reminds me of Twelfth Night, a Shakespeare style of comedy. It has a lot of hijinks, the romance, and it all comes together at the end."

Mamma Mia! returns to Sydney just as another Abba-soaked musical, Muriel's Wedding the Musical, has finished its sold-out season (with another run booked for 2019). Meanwhile, waiting in the wings in Priscilla Queen of Dessert, which opens in May and also has a soundtrack that leans heavily on the Swedish supergroup.

What is it with all the Abba love?

"The music has such honesty to it," says O'Donnell. "I've reflected on it quite a bit, and I just think it was all about the music for them.

"Outside of the music world, they were just four very normal people who valued family and friendship and love and that breathes into their music.

"They weren't trying to be cool, they weren't trying to be anyone else but who they are. Their songs are based on their own experiences and so they have an emotional connection to them and I think that resonates with people."

For O'Donnell, whose roster of Abba songs in the show includes Money, Money, Money, Super Trouper and SOS, the most difficult one to sing is also the most emotional, The Winner Takes It All.

"It's a really fine balance between investing in it and also allowing the audience to feel something," she says.

"So, if I allow myself to feel the emotions too much it means I'm taking something away from the audience. I love singing [The Winner Takes It All], I absolutely love singing it, but early on it was the one I thought, 'I really have to measure this', otherwise we lose the beauty of the song and nobody wants that. It's too beautiful."

This time around, too, O'Donnell is performing to an audience who are more familiar with the movie than the original musical. That means she's got Streep to contend with.

"I don't think I could ever compete with Meryl Streep," O'Donnell says, laughing. "She's a goddess. And to be honest, I'm not trying to. I think that would be a huge mistake.

"It's so interesting to me, because the first time around, people knew the music and that's what they were coming to see, and this time around they know the film, and what I have noticed is that it's just opened up a whole new generation of Mamma Mia! fans and Abba fans. At some of the shows, we've had four generations of families coming to see the show together. And I just think that's such a special thing.

"I'm so happy for the film, because it has allowed the show to continue and Meryl is extraordinary."